Upgraded and Grounded: Alexandria Library’s Experience in the ALA Pilot Program, Resilient Communities

Introduction

This past November, a passing fellow pedestrian shared their delight at the unusual weather. It was hard not to enjoy the unseasonal balminess on what should have been, at the least, a much crisper fall day. However, I couldn’t partake in the glee. The blessing felt more like a warning in disguise. This sidewalk exchange exemplifies my motivation for joining the growing library embrace of climate literacy. How do we, information specialists, help the people in our communities connect the dots between climate change and their everyday lives? The United Nations International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has alerted the world that our climate crisis has dire consequences for the future of humans.¹ Those of us living today must examine the structure of our economic world and thoughtfully embrace a new system that puts us within the ethical and natural bounds of the planet. This is a daunting task. Unlearning wasteful practices to embody sustainability feels onerous. As formidable as it may seem, unless we do something, our situation will only get worse.

Climate change’s reach extends to all areas of life and the response must do likewise. Solutions emerge and can be adapted at the personal, communal, political, and business levels. While libraries are not scientific institutions or policy think tanks, we are spaces where interested and affected parties can meet and diffuse their knowledge. Libraries can be the fulcrum for the climate experts and those striving to understand. We do this by providing education and skills for those ready to make sustainable life changes, connecting people to climate advocates, supporting those who need hope, and encouraging dialogue on the topics that matter. Libraries, too, can be role models, putting our practices where our values lay. Libraries do not have to go it alone. Leadership at the highest level has made “sustainability” a core competency of librarianship, and resources abound, empowering libraries to support their community’s preparation for climate-related transitions.²

One such resource was the opportunity to participate in the 2020 American Library Association’s (ALA) pilot program Resilient Communities: Libraries Respond to Climate Change.³ This pioneering grant offered winning libraries $1,000 to cover materials and programs, access to climate documentaries, time to share ideas with other grantees, and entrance into the Climate Resilience Hub network, which aids communities facing extreme weather. Seventy libraries applied and 25 were granted, including three from Virginia: Norfolk Public Library, Prince William Public Library, and Alexandria Library. I will share how Alexandria Library used the grant to meet the needs of our patrons, reflect on the undertaking of the program, and propose where the Library is heading next.

Resilient Communities Grant

The announcement of the Resilient Communities grant came at a welcomed time. In July of 2020, months into the COVID-19 shutdown, the ALA Sustainability Round Table posted an announcement about this pilot program, which would award $1,000 to be spent over a six-month period on programs addressing the issues of climate change, sustainability, and resiliency, as they related to individual communities. Already, Alexandria Library had offered a number of events that explored reuse and renovations, installed solar panels and a green roof on two of its branches, and started circulating thermal cameras, allowing patrons to investigate their homes’ energy efficiency. While these services and renovations were important, they had been done as standalone activities. Participating in the grant seemed like a chance for the Library to declare its commitment to addressing the threat of climate change and support the City’s efforts of moving towards resiliency. For me personally, this grant was the rejuvenation I had been looking for. Having experienced disruptions from extreme weather, and knowing that people are suffering from so many climatic changes, I was having a hard time doing work that left this out. These global impacts affecting everything on which society is based, means that everyone, including library workers, should be incorporating sustainability into conversations and practices.

Alexandria Library, located in Northern Virginia, is bordered by the Potomac River to its east. Historic development displaced and disrupted many natural barriers, and current construction and development have only increased the amount of impervious land, taxing the antiquated sewer system. Climate change is increasing the severity of extreme rainfall in the region, further exacerbating the City’s and residents’ struggle with flooding.⁴ As with all places in the southeast, being outdoors in the summer can be dangerous due to increasing temperatures that have brought excessive heat and humidity. This is especially true in our urban area with inadequate tree coverage and an overabundance of concrete and asphalt.⁵ Adding to that, we are a city with a great diversity of peoples and languages with differing socioeconomic freedoms. Not everyone is experiencing the effects of or able to respond to climate change equally.

As a partner for the grant, I worked with the City of Alexandria’s Department of Transportation and Environmental Services (T&ES), specifically Ellen Eggerton, the City’s former Sustainability Coordinator, and Jessica Lassetter from the Stormwater Division. We decided to hold a program a month highlighting services already in existence and available for community members to take advantage of right away. We entitled our series Upgraded and Grounded: Efficiency and Sufficiency in the Midst of Climate Change. The title was meant to suggest that there are changes we must make, some by incorporating technical innovations and some by returning to traditional practices, that will help us get to the essence of sustainability: the abundance of enough. However, I wanted to make sure that we didn’t neglect education about climate change, so I established a supplemental series that would address similar topics to the grant series, but on a broader and more diverse scale. In total, going slightly over the six-month period, the Library ended up hosting a total of eight Upgraded and Grounded events and 12 supplemental events. I will detail the grant events here and list the supplemental events at the end.

Due to the grant period occurring during a time when the Library system was closed or partially closed, all events and lectures occurred via Zoom, which in some ways was an advantage. The Library was able to accommodate larger audiences and screen films. The first official event, in November of 2020, was streaming the film How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change directed by Josh Fox.⁶ The film was long for a Zoom setting, over two hours. Thirteen people attended, 11 of whom stayed on for the discussion afterwards. In the film, the director traveled the globe meeting community organizers fighting against climate destruction even when it felt like a losing battle. Showing one of the films from a curated selection was a required aspect of the grant, but it also seemed like a good place to start. Participants would be able to recall and lean on the determination of the subjects in the film as the rest of the series ventured into heavy topics. The discussion afterwards encouraged what would continue throughout the series: a space for people to connect with others who shared their same hopes and fears.

The second event was rescheduled for March 2021 due to weather conflicts. Although events were virtual, my partners and presenters from T&ES still had to respond to snow and rain emergencies. The January 2021 event, entitled “Sustainability in Alexandria,” became the second of the series and featured two presenters. Eggerton focused on what upgrades the City had undertaken. Stephanie Tsao, the Program Coordinator for Energy Masters, a Virginia Cooperative Extension program that serves affordable housing residents, described small home improvements that can help to reduce energy and water waste, and thus reduce utility bills. Tsao also touched on landlords’ responsibilities to make sure appliances and other building-related aspects were not contributing to high utility costs. Attendance at this event tripled from the first event to 34 participants. Presenters used interactive polls to assess the effectiveness of the information shared and whether participants would act on any of the suggested upgrades.

The third, fourth and fifth events each touched on other achievable aspects of sustainability and resiliency. A speaker from the Parks and Recreation Commission, Lucresha Murphy-Tate, talked about community gardening in the City. Eggerton participated in this session by sharing quick tips on home composting. Helen Lee, the City’s Environmental Program Manager, led the rescheduled webinar from December of 2020, explaining how to recycle correctly in Alexandria. This was the best attended event with 44 people. Over 30 minutes were spent on responding to audience questions. In the fifth event, the other grant partner, Lassetter, spoke on ways to flood-proof homes, how the City is addressing flooding issues, and the incentives offered federally and locally to encourage property owners to make flood-proof upgrades. Lassetter used polls periodically to assess audience members’ knowledge of watersheds and their personal flooding experiences. This was potentially the most contentious talk, as many citizens are unhappy about recurrent flooding, and feel the City has not done enough to curb the problem. Others expressed the tedium of continuing focus on this issue.

The Office of Emergency Management gave the final information session featuring an outside speaker. In this session, Brent Ruggles, the Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator, dove into historic natural disasters that have affected the City of Alexandria, and offered advice on how to prepare for future disasters. With the assistance of the presenter and using a portion of the grant money, I was able to put together starter emergency kits for attendees. The kits included a few basic supplies and handouts outlining the creation of an emergency plan. Where to turn to for updates and advice was included as well. This program fulfilled the Library’s duty as one of more than 70 Climate Resilience Hubs throughout the United States and Canada, a network joined through the grant. Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW), a nonprofit based in Boston, Massachusetts, began the Climate Resilience Hub network with the intention that hubs would be community resources and provide yearly education on extreme weather.⁷

The final two programs were in-house led. For four weeks, I hosted a teen nature photo contest through Instagram. Teens were able to post up to five photos a week, with the weekly selected photo being shared on Alexandria Library’s Instagram and Teen webpage. Using Instagram as a way to engage teens had some success. It was a familiar platform and participants seemed comfortable using the app to communicate and share photos. At the end of the series, I organized a virtual Open House hosting several events including an exhibition of the teen photos, an upcycle activity which converted a T-shirt into a macramé market bag, and a presentation from Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia on climate-conscious gardening. The intention of the Open House was to highlight the new Resilient Communities Collection. This collection, located at the Kate Waller Barrett Branch, pulls together books and DVDs addressing climate change, resiliency and sustainability from across the nonfiction subject areas and into one space for patrons to browse. Pamphlets and handouts provide information on a variety of issues, from preparing for hurricanes to the steps for installing solar panels in Alexandria. State and local environmental legislation, upcoming library events, and other related information can also be found here. The collection has about 145 items and it continues to grow.

Results and Takeaways

Participating in the Resilient Communities grant and providing patrons with environmental education has proven to be a worthwhile endeavor. The community response was positive and engaged. For the Upgraded and Grounded series, there were 183 participants. The supplemental series brought in 226 people. For all of these programs, which ran from late October 2020 through mid-May 2021, the Library had a combined attendance of 410 participants. Fifteen percent of participants attended two or more events. Comments shared by attendees were enthusiastic and unprompted.

“The great information keeps on coming.Thanks.” – Susan

“Thank you for the incredible effort you and your colleagues put into making a series on climate change and actions available to the residents of Alexandria. I attended many presentations and they were all fantastic learning opportunities.” – Daphne

“Thank you very much for hosting the speaker and for fielding all the questions. That was an amazing talk by Dr. Pennington. I have been wanting to hear this exact talk for a long time… very impressed with this series of events you have been hosting for the community. I attended the nuclear energy one last year.” – John

In addition to giving patrons opportunities to learn in areas important to them, the grant period allowed the Library to form a closer connection with the City departments tackling resiliency issues every day. Alexandria Library’s activities have been recognized in the City’s annual environmental achievements. Several department representatives have since returned to give talks and have reached out to the Library for help and participation in events they’ve hosted. This strengthened relationship has benefited the Library, the municipality, and its residents.

Overall, administration has been pleased with the positive publicity and services that accompanied receiving the grant. The Library’s Communications Office sent a press release out through the e-newsletter announcing the winning of the grant. A local newspaper picked up the story, and Eggerton and I were interviewed by a local television station.⁸ With very little to no additional cost, the Library was able to set up the Resilient Communities Collection and create an accompanying online guide that brings together print and online resources, recordings of presentations and DIY sustainability tutorials, and acts as a way to find upcoming related Library events. Local municipalities have contacted us to learn more about the Resilient Communities Collection and how to set up a similar one for their community. I’ve even had writers and researchers seek out the library for more information.

Not all events went according to plan. There was a misunderstanding with the community gardening presenter who interpreted my request for information on how to obtain and garden in a community plot as being for her department’s Adopt-a-Garden program, in which neighborhoods and civic clubs maintain corner flower gardens throughout the city. A last-minute conversation brought this discrepancy to light, but it was too late to change the bulk of the presentation. Although audience members didn’t complain, I was disappointed to not provide a more relevant session on community gardening. Two supplemental events were not well attended. An Earth Day, citizen science session had only four people attend. I also scheduled a teen workshop led by DC Extinction Rebellion Youth. There were no registrations until after I had already decided to cancel the event. The virtual Open House didn’t draw the enthusiasm I had hoped for either. People attended, but the interaction and energy that an Open House fosters was lost virtually.

Reflecting back, the sheer number of programs planned was itself not sustainable. By the end of the six months, I was losing the energy needed to keep up with the promotion and coordination of the events. The number of attendees was beginning to dwindle. Another challenge, which many were experiencing during the shutdown, was how to reach the most vulnerable in a virtual format. Initial attempts to reach out to the City’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion office were not ignored, but their focus was on addressing people’s immediate needs during the height of COVID-19; this program was not high on their list of concerns. Ideally, events would have needed Spanish and Amharic interpreters to make this program available to many communities where flooding and extreme heat are felt. While the closure of schools and offices during the height of the COVID period gave many the opportunity to slow down, look around, and invest in educating themselves, COVID was, for most, the overarching concern.

Yet to Come

Since the end of the Resilient Communities grant period, I continue to seek out speakers and events focusing on climate and sustainability. It will be interesting to see how things go now that many people are back at work in-person, juggling all of their many roles, and readjusting to social dynamics. I’ve seen a drop in attendance at both in-person and virtual events. While many were excited to return to in-person, this has not been my experience. Zoom may not have been the same as being there physically, but it was significantly more convenient. I’m resistant to moving away from providing environmental education, despite the dwindling attendance. Climate change will continue to affect all of our lives and not nearly enough people are making the changes necessary to warrant pulling away from this kind of programming. My hope is to encourage others to find ways to begin incorporating sustainability into their own libraries and events. While I reevaluate how public climate education will continue in my work, Alexandria Library has approved forming a Sustainability for All committee. The committee, which begins meeting in 2023, will be twofold in its purpose: looking at how the library can continue towards sustainable practices, and helping to build a staff that is climate-science literate and proactive.

Conclusion

All of our communities are experiencing the results of climate change, whether they want to talk about it or not. How these effects show themselves differ slightly due to each environment and municipality. Responding effectively is nuanced, and because of this, our patrons need guidance on what to know and which adaptations are the most appropriate. I recognize that not all libraries serve communities that are quite as welcoming to the reality of climate change as the City of Alexandria. Still, the library is a trusted entity to help disseminate information and provide training to develop the skills people will require in order to live well. Meet your community where they are. Identify the most pressing climate-related needs and find a way to help them prepare. There are so many areas to explore. Until we reach that place of stability, we all have a part to play.

If you’d like to start broaching the topics of climate change, sustainability and resiliency, you are fortunate that others have gone before you. The experimental events put on by Alexandria Library and other libraries during the Resilient Communities grant period can be templates for you to adopt as warranted. Many resources exist to help you plan programming and explore what libraries can do. Jump in. We and your community need you.

Questions to Consider

• What are the major environmental concerns facing your community?

• Is your community already talking about and acting on sustainability? Is there resistance?

• What would be the best way for your library to help your community address climate change?

• How will you begin?

The Supplemental Series

This series ran concurrently to the Upgraded and Grounded series. The lectures were designed to broaden the scope of discussion and to give background on why we should adapt since the grant series focused on how to adapt.

• Realigning Resilience: Discussing Environmental Justice with Gustavo Angeles of the Sierra Club, VA Chapter

• Climate Change in the Commonwealth of Virginia presented by Jim Kinter of the Center for Ocean, Land and Atmosphere Studies at George Mason University

• Equitable Urban Development: Medellín, Colombia Case Study presented by Delario Lindsey, Marymount University

• Renewable Energy, Nuclear Energy, and Climate Change presented by Robert Ehrlich, professor emeritus George Mason University

• The Plant Forward Movement: Planning, Eating, and Label Reading presented by Kristen McGill, nutritionist for Giant Food

• Promoting Ethical Food Systems presented by Frank A. Johnson, Jr. of the Virginia Food System Council

• Drawdown: Reversing Global Warming presented by Beck Mordini, a volunteer presenter with The Pachamama Alliance

• Youth Climate Crisis Action Training presented by DC Extinction Rebellion Youth

• Arboreal Investigation: Citizen Science with the GLOBE Observer App

• The Climate Crisis from the Perspective of Health, Justice, and Transportation: panel featuring Dr. Jerome Paulsen and Dr. Neelu Tummala of the Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action and Gustavo Angeles of the Sierra Club, VA Chapter

• Climate Courage, Author Talk with Andreas Karelas

• The Flora and Fauna of Northern Virginia presented by the Jerome “Buddie” Ford Nature Center in Alexandria, VA

Publisher’s Note

This article originally included an error listing the author’s affiliation as Alexandria Library, Egypt. As of April 25, 2023 this article has been amended by the publishers to display the correct affiliation: Alexandria Library, United States. Bettina Peacemaker, an editor for the journal, reported this error for correction.

Competing Interests

The author has no competing interests to declare.